This invention relates to a container for shipping liquids and semi-fluid substances such as adhesives in bulk quantities add, more particularly, to a bulk container which may be easily assembled and disassembled for use and reuse.
In the shipping of quantities of fluids and semi-fluid materials such as adhesives used in industry today, it is common to ship these materials in containers of bulk quantity on the order of 55 gallons and larger whereby the user pumps out or otherwise removes desired quantities of material from the bulk container until empty afterwhich the container can be returned to the manufacturer for reuse. Typical bulk containers comprise both fiberboard drums having metal tops and bottoms and cardboard containers which are secured to wooden pallets. The drums and containers typically employ a plastic liner which is sealed to contain the material being shipped. At the point of use, the fluid then may be pumped out of the container or drained from the bottom.
Besides the problems of the size, weight and cost of current bulk containers is the problem that such containers exist in a manufactured or erected condition both before and after use. As a consequence, large amounts of space are involved in storing the containers for filling and after filling. In the shipment of containers from the manufacturer to the site where they are to be filled or used, large amounts of shipping space also is entailed. This is true with round containers where typically there is a large amount of void space between containers which is wasted space. After use, when the containers are returned to be refilled, considerable amounts of shipping space are again wasted by virtue of the geometries of the containers. There exists no container commercially available today which is capable of being easily assembled and easily disassembled before and between uses thereby greatly reducing the amount of the storage and shipping space needed for such containers.